The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
David Introcaso, Ph.D.
Podcast interviews with health policy experts on timely subjects.
The Healthcare Policy Podcast website features audio interviews with healthcare policy expert...
Prof. Stephanie Alice Baker Discusses TikTok's Promotion of Fake Cancer Cures
After heart disease cancer is the leading cause of death in the US. Forty percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Timely diagnosis and treatment of cancer has always been a concern made worse by the COVID pandemic and the ongoing problem of un- and under-insurance. Another reason for concern is the increasing use of networked-based social media sites used to advertise bogus cancer cures, particularly to Generation Z, or those 27 or under, who increasing use social media sites as de facto search engines. Dr. Baker’s recent research reveals health disinformation is rife on TikTok via its “For You” algorithm that directs users to fake cures and conspiratorial content via primarily five themes including personal anecdotes, conspiracy theories and spiritual messaging. (Devoted listeners may recall I interviewed Harvard’s Dr. Susan Linn two yrs ago next month re: her 2022 book, “Who’s Raising the Kids?” a critique of the “kid tech” world’s pernicious influence on children.)Prof. Baker’s, article, “Link in Bio: Fake Cancer Cures, Radicalization and Disinformation on a Democratic Society,” is at: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/pqs5e. Information regarding her most recent book, “Wellness Culture: How the Wellness Movement Has Been Use to Empower, Profit and Misinform,” is at: https://bookstore.emerald.com/wellness-culture.html. Prof. Baker serves as Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology and a Reader in Sociology at City St. George's, University of London. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
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32:03
310th Interview: John Washington Discusses His Just-Published, "The Case for Open Borders"
The human rights/public health crisis known as US border policy serves as further proof of what Richard Hofstadter termed in 1964 the “paranoid style in American politics.” To his credit Mr. Washington’s work attempts explain the recent phenomenon of closed or militarized borders here and around the world. Closed borders, Mr. Washington explains, are responsible for untold human suffering that cannot be legitimately explained as efforts to protect our economy, government budgets, our environment and our sense of sovereignty or nationalism. They do not limit migration, protect communities from crime and violence or dystopian-level anarchy, are counterproductive in addressing racism/modern-day Jim Crowism and the climate crisis and fail to serve any ethical purpose. Information on “The Case for Open Borders” is at: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2199-the-case-for-open-borders. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
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35:56
Prof. Daniel Goldberg Discusses His Recently Published, "Tackle Football and Traumatic Brain Injuries"
Beyond roughly 1,700 NFL players, five to six million children participate in tackle football. As a collision sport, brain (or TBI) and other neurological, bone, joint, ligament, muscle, organ and tendon injuries are commonly occur and frequently develop into long-term chronic conditions, particularly chronic pain. Not surprisingly, the avg life expectancy of an NFL lineman - who played as few as one game - is just 55 years of age. Prof. Goldberg’s book examines how the NFL has for decades masterfully, successfully employed a set of strategies or scripts termed the “Manufacture of Doubt,” to avoid governmental regulation. The NFL’s success constitutes a an ongoing serious public health problem in it circumvents the precautionary principle upon which the entire field of public health is based - that is precautionary measures should be taken in the presence of a high stakes human health hazard even if definitive proof is lacking. Information concerning Prof. Goldberg book is at: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/authors/daniel-s-goldberg. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
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36:10
Dr. Troyen Brennan Discusses His Just-Published Book, "The Transformation of American Health Insurance, On the Path to Medicare for All"
Harvard Chan School of Public Health’s Dr. Troy Brennan argues in sum that because government Medicare, Medicaid and ACA marketplaces have grown and evolved, meaning the feds have improved their ability to competently regulate the healthcare market, employer-sponsored commercial plan coverage has become both comparatively unaffordable and increasingly irrelevant. Primarily for these reasons Dr. Brennan argues the US is headed toward or on the path to federally-sponsored and regulated healthcare administered by private or commercial payers. That is it appears increasingly likely the US will finally realize universal, socialized, single payer healthcare insurance or what he defines as Medicare For All, or more specifically Medicare Advantage for All in which commercial insurance plans serve a strictly administrative role. Dr. Brennan’s book can be found at: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53759/transformation-american-health-insurance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
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33:27
Dr. Charles LeBaron Discusses His Just Published Book, "Greed to Good, The Untold Story of CDC's Disastrous War on Opioids"
This century drug overdose deaths have equaled roughly 1.1 million largely due to overdose deaths among men that increased from 15,000 to 80,000. As Dr. LeBaron notes drug overdose fatalities this century have exceeded the sum of all service member deaths in all wars in US history. The vast majority of drug overdoses were opioid related that, e.g., increased from 50,000 to 82,000 between 2019 and 2022. While opioid drugs have been available for decades, the opioid - or the opioid use disorder epidemic is strongly correlated with opioid prescribing. As Dr. LeBaron notes between Purdue Pharma’s 1996 introduction of OxyContin and 2010, opioid prescriptions and overdose deaths increased fourfold, or in almost exact parallel. The CDC, only agency charged with controlling epidemics, published in 2016 its “Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in the US.” Tragically, the guideline was quickly weaponized, by payers and states. This led to significant decreases in prescribing that in turn led to dramatic increases in undertreated pain and not surprisingly increased suicides. In 2022 CDC updated its opioid guideline but as Dr. LeBaron notes in his conclusion reduced prescribing without improvements in prevention and treatment programming will backfire. Though the CDC last month announced preliminary data showing drug overdose deaths may have dropped by 10% or to 70,000 over the 12-month period ending this past April, the epidemic continues largely unabated. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
About The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Podcast interviews with health policy experts on timely subjects.
The Healthcare Policy Podcast website features audio interviews with healthcare policy experts on timely topics.
An online public forum routinely presenting expert healthcare policy analysis and comment is lacking. While other healthcare policy website programming exists, these typically present vested interest viewpoints or do not combine informed policy analysis with political insight or acumen. Since healthcare policy issues are typically complex, clear, reasoned, dispassionate discussion is required. These podcasts will attempt to fill this void.
Among other topics this podcast will address:
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act
Other federal Medicare and state Medicaid health care issues
Federal health care regulatory oversight, moreover CMS and the FDA
Healthcare research
Private sector healthcare delivery reforms including access, reimbursement and quality issues
Public health issues including the social determinants of health
Listeners are welcomed to share their program comments and suggest programming ideas.
Comments made by the interviewees are strictly their own and do not represent those of their affiliated organization/s. www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
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